The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-27
. SUMMER IN EGYPT.
Delights of Existence in the Land OF
the Nile
From, tEe 81. James Gazette.

the Nile.
From pe 81. James Gazette.
Egvpt in summer is commonly said TO be
an unfit residence for Europeans, but that
is a mistake. and one which would be less
prevalent. perhaps, il it were not fostered
BY foreign officials, who wish TO prove that
( they need a three months holiday every
wear Of course. if q uaan begins the day
with brandy and soda and unlimited lemon
squashes, followed up by heavy lunch, and
| then retires beneath the mosquito curtains
| fora siesta until ) O'Clock he will wake up
| unrefreshed. If he then calls carriage
| and is driven about till dinner time, he will
probably only begin to feel alive about III
/ o'clock. He will not feel disposed to
retire until the small hours and will waken
/ in the morning as weary as when he went to
/ bed This is matter of course, for which
/ he should not blame the climate much.
/ COMPARED with Indian heat, the tempera-
/ ture of Egypt is refreshing; for. however
sultry the day may be, there is long cool
night The only real trial IS the length OF
the hot season. A couple of months of
more intense heat would be much easier to
bear than the steady gentle grilling from
/ Nav TO October. But, after all, an average
temperature of 90 in the daytime out of
doors-which may be redu, g 10 Sc i'll tie
| large native rooms-sinking some lO or ID
at night, does not constitute very formid
able summer climate.
IL is interesting to study an entirely diff
| ferent Egypt from that described by the
hundred and one authors who have under
| taken at the solicitation of their friends,
record of their experiences There is per-
petual delight in watching the slow, and
solid rise of the mighty Nile, swollen by
rains in UNEMPLOYED lands beyond the equa-
tor, rolling along its thousands OF miles be
| low Khartoum without tributary, always
I TO no "
never receiving, but ever flowing with a
daily increasing tide--truly one of the
worlds greatest wonders. Gradually it fills
the canals, and mounting its banks, climbs
softly up till it laps over and floods the
landscape, till as far as the eye can reach
from the river bed, Egypt is one great lake.
The villages with their clusters of palms lie
dotted here and there, like tiny islands in
the sea, and the fellah has time to cross his
hands and look on with silent pleasure at the
great Nile frilctifying his acres with rich
mold from the heart of Africa. Then as
quickly or as slowly as it has risen, the river
sinks, leaving stagnant pools, which the sun
licks up, and the new layer of mud cracks into
great chasms dear to the heart of the Guilt
vator, and ready for the quick spring crop.
The fresh growth is almost miraculous in its
rapidity. Where one week all that meets
the eve is a muddy marsh covered with
waterfowl, ten days later the lovely tender
green of the young corn or berseen
is covering the land. The real work OF the
fellah commences, which is to pre-
vent too much water from lying ON his
acres, and yet to supply the requisite
amount of moisture. The pickax and
shovel, the donkey and camel, the baby girl
and the baby boy, are all pressed into SER
vice, until gradually the proper supply is
obtained and the crop springs up victorious,
home for the winter flight of quail and
carefully prepared hunting ground for the
sportsman. Wild duck and other aquatic
| fowl rejoice in the Nile flood, and a goodly
flock of pelicans are to be found. The sum
mer plumage of the 1-year-old birds is pc
culiarly beautiful, the under side of each
| feather being of a shell-like rose color. One
| bird will give eighteen inches square of the
most lovely feathers and dozen skins will
make an opera cloak beautiful enough TO
cause any woman's eyes TO glisten. Soon
| in lower Egypt the cotton fields are in full
| bloom, mass of glorious yellow between
gold and primrose color, whose blossoms
mean money Quickly the color fades to
| the universal brown of the pods till they
break out again with the snowy fluff of
ripeness, and the cotton crop is ready for
the picker Probably not one in a hundred
visitors to the Nile land has ever seen a cot
| ton field in flower. 1t is one of the sights
reserved for the summer martyrs What
the cotton plant is to the delta, sugar cane
is to the country between Cairo and As
souan The cane is laid down in the early
summer in pieces of about foot long, over
tapping each other in the long burrows.
Boys then walk along stamping down the
ends, and the earth is turned over. The
/ process of taking root does not require much
! time, and when once the spikes appear above
ground they shoot up almost vlsibly. By
the end of August the planters work is
over. and he will tell you that there are
many worse places in which to spend the
summer than Bibeh, Magagah Or Erment.
The morning rides and the moonlit strolls
| through the plantations would supply mate
rial for sketching much less hackneyed than
mosques, pyramids and camels.
! Whatever Europeans may feel, summer
! is the season the native really loves. In the
| winter he goes about with his head wrapped
up in multifarious shawls cursing the
| Franks who have brought rain and cold,
and bemoanlng his own hard lot. The few
piastres he gan earn will not afford him fire,
| and his house, If he has one, is wretchedly
| bare. In tina summer he can sprawl about
| on the ground in comfortable warmth all
1 the night long, and few beans in the pod
! or a couple OF yards of Sugar-cane and a
pumpkin give him a cheap and delicious
meal Dust is better than mud for bare
feet and the baking of the sun is pure de-
| light to the Arab-born. In the town he can
nave aus BullN liuutSleS vi optil-silI tiinuSe-
ments, which cost nothing.
| The beasts have their share of enjoyment
from the overlooking abundance of food,
and the humblest donkey banquets royalty.
| No one who has ever seen a mule or a don
! key roll in the dust when his saddle is taken
off can guess the joy he feels. The expires
sion of satisfied desire showing on the tip of
a bullock's nose and from out his great
sleepy eyes as he rolls porpoise-like IN the
canal, after a long days round in the sakieh,
Is enough to make Christian envy the
beast. The European who geCs up early
and goes for gallop in the fresh morning,
comes in with an appetite for breakfast.
| A walk to and from his office prepares the
way for lunch, and his afternoon nap ena-
bles him TO play in the tennis-court or the
cricket field. A tub before dinner freshens
him up again, and the early beginning to
his day insures sleep before midnight. This
sort of life will leave HIM none the worse,
and probably the letter, for his summer in
Egypt.
He ia Sorry He Said IT